The running narrative on Russian combat sports legend Fedor Emelianenko is whether, win or lose on Saturday night here at iconic music and sports venue The Forum against Ryan Bader in the Bellator MMA grand prix heavyweight final, retirement looms.
Delve deep inside his back room team, and the noises are there: Fedor’s once great beserker sambo style is still there, but the body creaks in camp, and after fights. What should we expect ? The mixed martial arts legend has gone on. And on.
Father timed waits for no man, as we know, and at 42, the creeping malaise of human frailty grows in the psyche of a fighter. It’s as inevitable as a bald man fighting over the use of a hairbrush. There is a time when the vim for a fight has gone, when the greasepaint has well and truly worn off.
For ‘The Last Emperor’, that time may have come. That’s not to say there are still not great performances in him. Working out yesterday, the speed and power were there as he cracked the 4oz gloves into the pads of trainer Peter Theiss. He is still revered, still considered the greatest heavyweight of all-time. Still carries a profound aura and presence.
The MMA Legend @fedoroskol working out at @Viacom ahead of #Bellator214 @BellatorMMA Fedor's last fight ? And does he beat Ryan Bader ? Who ya got ? pic.twitter.com/7y78HqMz1i
— Gareth A Davies (@GarethADaviesDT) January 23, 2019
Fedor brought huge exposure to this sport at his peak, at a time when its relevance and resonance were hoved in a small corner of the sports landscape – unlike today – and was unbeaten in a stretch of 27 fights from December 2000 until June 2010.
A former champion in Japan’s PRIDE Fighting Championships, a former Strikeforce title contender and one of the few names the UFC tried, and failed, a few times to sign, Fedor joined Bellator through his association and friendship with its fight league president Scott Coker.
On the sun-kissed rooftop of Viacom’s Hollywood headquarters – the media conglomerate owns the Bellator fight league – yesterday’s workout session for Saturday night’s fights with established stars and rising prospects, was flooded with media representatives from Russia, hanging in Fedor’s every word. And the truth is that Fedora rarely offers many words. But the ‘R’ word was there in abundance. In that gentle sun and wind, we listened to the great fighter talk of the winter of his career.
“To tell the truth, at my age right now, more and more I’m thinking about retiring,” Emelianenko said, to the question of whether he would defend the Bellator heavyweight crown if he wins.
“And it is not because I don’t want to fight. It’s definitely because of the age and all the injuries that speak. There’s been no adjustments, no changes in the training process. But it takes more time to recover.”
Emelianenko, record 38-5, said he would not have had it any different, never wished he had been in this era of mega money nights, crossover fights. The digital age of smack talk and ‘viral’ excitement whipping up a fever online.
No. Fedor was, as still is, ‘old school’. “I’m very grateful and thankful to God that things worked out the way they have.”
There have been no secrets to his success, he explained. “Until this very moment, we did manage to keep this at a high level, and we’ll see if I can go on. To tell the truth, there are no secrets. You have to put the goal in front of you and move toward it and work a lot.”
Remarkable his career has been, having become a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and having fought on cards sponsored by POTUS Trump.
Emelianenko, his team revealed to The Telegraph, is genuinely thinking of retirement. What will he do then, the impassive fight standout was asked by myself, and Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times, in an intimate interview as he departed Viacom, with his team.
The LA Times fight correspondent and myself have seen and covered so many stars reach their forties, and think about physical decline: Manny Pacquiao, Randy Couture, Anderson Silva. All greats. “I’ll spend more time with my family, rest a bit and then I’ll be back with my team – some of whom are in Bellator – and I’ll work with them.”
Fedor will assist in MMA becoming an Olympic sport. He is already involved in that process, but he hit back over treatment of Russian athletes in the doping programme revealed in 2015 that threatens the participation of his compatriots in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Could Fedor be the face of Russian athletes being seen as ‘clean’? “I think that Russian sportsmen do not need just [one person] to make them clean. They are clean,” Emelianenko said.
“There are a lot of accusations without ground, without proof and there have been a lot of sanctions against Russia … there is no truth behind a lot of it.”
Emelianenko told us that he was never approached in Russia to engage in doping of any kind. It had happened, he added enigmatically, but “only in the United States.” The Russian laughed, indicating it may have been a joke, but it was a statement. But perhaps the biggest statement Fedor can make this week is felling his American foe Bader, slinging the belt over his shoulder, and saddling up and leaving the sport with the perfect proclamation of ‘valete’.